Odd One
by xfallenangel13x
Summary: He had always been the odd man out. The one everyone avoided. The weird kid, the black sheep, the screw-up. But little did they know, of the torment he faced behind closed doors...
1. Heading

**Title:** _Odd One_

**Full Summary: **_His entire life, he was the odd man out. The black sheep. The wimp. The weird kid. The screw-up. The magnet for bullying, and other potential problems. Each day he spent in loneliness, and sorrow. Ups sometimes seemed to outweigh the downs in life. He was the one everyone avoided, and judged.  
_

_If only they knew of the torment he faced behind closed doors..._

**Pairing(s): **_Undecided_

**Rating: **_K+ - M_

**Genre(s): **_Angst, Drama, Family, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Tragedy  
_

**Universe:** _Alternate Universe (AU)_

**Warning(s): **_Possible OOC Characters, Explicit Language, Mild-to-Explicit Depictions of Violence/Gore, Possible Triggering Content, Character Death_

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own, nor do I have anything to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. I merely own the plot of this story, and/or any Original Characters included within this story, which will be specified. YGO belongs to Kazuki Takahashi and Co. _

_Please do not steal, plagiarize, nor copy my work. Please do not repost anywhere without my DIRECT permission._

_Thank you._

_~ Fallen_

* * *

**A/N:**

_Hello, everyone. Fallen here, after God-knows how long of a hiatus. Which will more than likely still be occurring after I post this. I've been unusually busy this summer..._

_Anywho, I've decided that this is what the first entry to my stories will be from now on. Of course, followed directly by an actual CHAPTER._

_Now, to start off, I feel it is very important to warn you all, that the events taking place in this story are based heavily off of those that occurred in real life. So I ask that you please not be overly judgmental nor rude in any reviews left on this story. Now, don't let this deter you from reading. I still intend for it to be that of what you'd expect to see by me - maybe even a bit better, considering my emotional attachments to this._

_What you will read in here has been altered as little as possible. I made sure to try and fit characters to these people around me according to personality, so hopefully they won't get overly out of character. But that IS bound to happen with this. And I'm sorry for that. Also, the towns mentioned in this, instead of taking place in Japan, will be based off of places I have lived during the moments written in this FanFiction. If you think you know the places of which I am talking about, I ask that you please refrain from mentioning them in any sort of public view. And, if you do NOT know, please do not ask me. You will be ignored._

_Topics in this are likely to be a bit touchy, or triggering for some. I'll do my best to warn you of such topics, so please, __**read the Author's Notes at the beginning of the story.**__ If you don't, and you end up reading something you don't like even if it's clearly labeled at the top, well... Tough shit. You didn't listen._

_Also, things such as character ages have been changed to better fit the story. I'm sorry, but it's a needed change._

_That should be all, for now... So, until next time!_

_~ Fallen_


	2. Prologue

_No warnings for this chapter. Nothing much to say, either, so by all means, go on ahead!  
I hope you enjoy this story, guys!  
_

_~Fallen_

* * *

**_~ Prologue ~_**

* * *

It had been a day just like any other, when _it _all happened. He had been sitting alone, upstairs, browsing the web on his laptop. His mother was at work, and his brother was at the other house, doing who knew what. Probably playing video games or something before going out job-hunting. His stepfather was downstairs, in the garage, endlessly tinkering away on one of his many projects. Or, maybe he was just sitting outside, under the second-story balcony that faced the rest of the neighborhood, enjoying himself. He honestly couldn't recall which it was.

The weather hadn't been half bad, either. In fact, the sky had been dazzlingly blue _that_ day. Patched in little tufts of cottony-white clouds. The sun had been bright and shining. It did well to soothe the many tumorous thoughts that had been plaguing his mind the past few months. Well... _sort of_, anyways.

And then, in the stagnant silence, the house phone rang. Dread and fear unlike any other he could even recall feeling before swelled up in his chest, as he quickly got up to answer it. Looping behind the couch, to a small counter set next to a coat closet.

"_Don't worry, hun'. I'll call if anything happens."_

The fourteen-year-old closed his eyes.

He didn't want to pick up that phone. He_ didn't_. It would just make it all the more real if he did.

Because he _knew_ something had gone horribly wrong in his sad, little world.

He_ knew_ what had happened. He just didn't want to accept it.

He didn't want to acknowledge that he was gone.

Yet, his hand reached out, and picked the phone up from its stand, pressing the _answer_ button, before bringing it up to his ear. He didn't bother looking at the caller ID. He already knew who it was.

"Hello?" his voice spoke with a false lilt. "Mai?"

"_Hun'?_" came a feminine voice. He forced a smile, even though no-one was there to see him. Maybe, he reasoned, it would help make his playing innocent seem more believable. "_Can you put your mother on the phone, please?_"

He bit his lip. _Come on,_ he mentally chided, _Just come out and __say it already! Just __**say it**__!_ As much as he wished she wouldn't, he also wished she _would_. He was young, yes, but he wasn't a stupid child! He could handle it, just as well as his mother, or sibling, or any other family member! Hell, he would probably do _much better_ with this sort of news than anyone else in the family would! "Sorry, she's at work," he replied after a moment, "What's up? Is something wrong?"

_Of course something's wrong!_ he screamed internally, _Everything is wrong!_

"_It's nothing, sweetheart. Is Ryota home?_"

_Don't you dare try to hide this from me. I'm always the last to know these things!_ He did his best to hold the thoughts in his head, almost unable to suppress a frustrated growl. "Yeah, why?"

"_Can you give the phone to him please?_"

_**Just say it, already**! _"Why? What's wrong?" he tried again, drumming his fingers anxiously over the counter top.

"_Yuugi, _**_please_**_. Just go get Ryota,_" Mai's voice rang, almost desperately.

His heart sunk. He felt pressure building up in his chest. No, he wouldn't cry. He _wouldn't_! "Alright, he's in the garage. One sec."

His feet thumped down the carpeted stairs quickly. Leaving the last step behind, he faced the heavy garage door. One of his cats zipped from the bathroom door at his side, to upstairs. Yuugi's hand turned the knob, and he slipped between the door and its frame. "Ryota?" he called, looking out past a rarely-used ping-pong table, to see the large form of his stepfather standing in the mouth of the open garage.

The slightly-tan, raven-haired man turned around, a small smile coming onto his face. "What's up, bud?" he asked, eyes darting to the phone in his stepchild's grasp. Yuugi just walked over, and handed it to him.

"Mai wants to talk to you."

He had reentered the house before he could even greet the woman.

Yuugi returned to the upstairs, and quickly began to pace between the master bedroom, and the living room, eying his laptop as he did so. There was nothing he could do. Nothing at all, except for trying to distract himself. He pondered grabbing the second house phone, and listening in on Ryota and Mai's conversation, but there wasn't any need to. He already knew what had happened, even if the adults refused to grow a pair and _tell_ him.

He gave a tiny, shuddering sigh, and sat back down, continuing whatever conversation he had been in with his friend before the phone call. He didn't even mention it to them. His mind drifted to Mai, to his brother, to Ryota and his mother. To his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. His family, and their friends.

How would they all react once they found out.

He remembered glancing at the clock hanging above the television when the phone first rang. It had read the time as being... approximately 11:10 in the morning.

Yuugi felt that same feeling constrict in his chest, but strangely enough, his eyes remained dry. Even when his mother returned home almost two exact hours later. Nor as he, again, played blissfully ignorant, commenting on how she was home from work early.

11:10AM.

Saturday, May 12th, 2012.

The day his life finally broke at the seams.

Because, now, for as far back as he could remember... now it was over.

_He was gone._

_Still, Yuugi did not cry._


End file.
